RECIPES: Recipe Details

Great American Burger

This is a great burger that appeals to every pallet I've come across, included picky children. The onion sauce can be used as a topping for many things (very yummy on steaks) and I've even had many people eat it alone because they loved it so much! This burger is best when the meats are ground just prior to preparing, though ground meats purchased at the store are just fine.

Using apple wood or another aromatic wood in the grill, create a medium-hot heat. For the onion topping, spread the onions in an even line in the middle of a piece of tin foil that is ~15 inches long, leaving room on the ends for crimping. Place pats of butter on onion (evenly spaced along line), spread minced garlic and cover mixture with the slices of American cheese. Fold over the long sides of the tin foil, crimp the ends (leaving room for puffing of the foil pouch), and flatten. Repeat wrappign with another piece of foil. The mixture should cook on the grill for 15-20 minutes over indirect heat, so time it's removal with when the burger will be done. For the burger, heat olive oil and minced garlic in a non-stick skillet on medium-high heat for ~7 minutes or until garlic is slightly brown. Once the oil/garlic mixture has cooled a bit, mix it with the remaining burger ingredients, being careful not to handle the mixture too much (which could cause dryness/compacting). Prepare patties (should yield ~6). Brush vegetable oil onto grill, then place patties on grill. Avoid cooking directly over the flame so as to reduce charring. Flip burgers every 2 minutes or so, cooking for a total of ~10 minutes or until medium. Approximately 1 minute before done, add a slice of cheese to each burger, cover the grill, and let melt. At approximately the same time as the cheese goes onto the burgers, spread a little softened butter on the inner sides of the sliced focaccia rolls and place on the grill only long enough to heat them through and make the outsides a little crispy. Remove buns, spread a little bit of dijon mustard on the top bun, place a burger on the bottom part of the bun, spread some of the onion topping on top of the burger and cover with the top piece of roll. Enjoy!